Law and Legislation

News about Law and Legislation, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jan. 7, 2015

House approves obscure but significant rule change requiring economic effects of legislation to be included in a bill's official cost to the Treasury; change was long sought by Republicans; so-called 'dynamic scoring' could ease passage of major tax cuts by showing that related economic growth would reduce overall cost; move is seen as part of leadup to an ambitious overhaul of the entire United States tax code. MORE

May. 28, 2014

The Upshot; political scientists and legislators offer various theories on why number of bills proposed in House of Representatives is down sharply from previous Congresses; Kristin Kanthak, associate professor of political science at University of Pittsburgh, speculates that slowdown could be due to fact that politicians are not seeing any electoral benefit from introducing bills. MORE

May. 25, 2014

Study to be published in The Harvard Law Review finds that Supreme Court has been quietly revising its decisions years after they were issued, altering law of the land without public notice; most changes are neither prompt nor publicized, and court's secretive editing process has led judges, lawyers and scholars astray. MORE

Dec. 31, 2013

Adam Liptak Sidebar column notes that legal scholars make a persuasive case that colorful names for bills and statutes cheapen and distort the legal process; observes that clever names for laws are a new phenomenon, rarely appearing before 1988. MORE

Dec. 6, 2012

Word 'lunatic' will be stricken from federal law under legislation that passed the House and is headed to Pres Obama for his signature; Congressional action is the latest effort to remove language from federal law that has become outdated or is considered demeaning. MORE

Aug. 28, 2012

Home rule, an obscure provision in the New York State constitution under which the state gives limited autonomy to local municipalities, has been cited twice in August in decisions overturning New York State laws; decisions, which are both expected to face review by appellate courts, case a light on the home rule provision, an often misunderstood concept under the state grants limited autonomy to local municipalities; 43 states have such a constitutional provision. MORE

Jun. 29, 2012

Op-Ed article by law professor Neal K Katyal warns that the Supreme Court's decision on the health care reform law contains the seeds for a potential restructuring of federal-state relations; asserts that the decision also reinforces the fact that Americans are growing increasingly comfortable with the idea of the court handing down rulings that remove decisions from the legislative process or even rewrite legislation altogether. MORE

Jan. 3, 2012

Washington is applying a new yardstick when judging the merits of federal laws; instead of looking at their costs or savings, question is whether they will create or destroy jobs; economists see misleading claims and counterclaims. MORE

Oct. 15, 2011

New York State's education officials' legislative agenda will focus for the first time on the contentious topic of illegal immigration; top priority is proposal to push Congress to pass legislation, known as the Dream Act, that would provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who go to college. MORE

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